You Can't Argue With Logic
by TacticianZephine
Summary: Movieverse, post ROTF. Some new Autobot recruits arrive on Earth to join the NEST team. Will Lennox already clashes with one of Prime's top officers.


**I fail at finishing fics in chronological order, so...yeah...the Autobots arrive on Earth. Well, some new recruits, anyway. Post Revenge of the Fallen. And Will finds a way to clash with the least likely mech. Takes place a LONG time after my fics "All On You", "I Tripped", and "What Scandal!", but still fits into that series. The order's only so random because I am a fail at sequence.**

**Writers block caused this fic to be published before I continued the others. And my tendency to fail.**

**Okay, I think I've officially killed you with my rant, so, here's the fic to bring you back to life. R&R, and please, if you don't like the fic, just see if you can pick SOMETHING good out of it?**

* * *

It was a clear night, one of the clearest they'd seen all year.

Almost like an omen.

The stars shone brightly in the black velvet sky over the field. You could see each and every one of them. A white light shone up from a patch of cleared, carefully packed dirt precisely seven yeards long and ten yards wide (someone had made sure of this). The gentle summer breeze rustled the long grass, and every now and then, an animal moved in the foliage, scampering away from the strange sight.

Seven figures stood close together in a line, the forms of four C-17 aircraft carriers waiting behind them. Ten humans lounged on rocks while looking around at their much taller comrades. An eighth figure stood apart from his fellows, his head tilted up so his face stared skyward, optics scanning the vast expanse in carefully masked anticipation.

Optimus Prime waited with the rest of the NEST team as they watched the comets blaze across the sky. There were six of them.

"Know who they are?" a voice asked from somewhere near his ankle.

The Autobot commander looked down at Will Lennox. "I know only that they are Autobots."

"How?"

"Instinct."

Will nodded, respecting that. "Huh. How do you think their aim is?"

"Well, depending on who it is, I'd say anywhere from fair to excellent. Unless one of them is Blaster."

Sure enough, five of the new Autobots landed within three yards of the target point. The sixth, however, was about five yards east of the others, and took out the remains of an old barn and some trees, setting the foliage smoldering.

"Yeah," Will said, raising his eyebrows.

All six of the comets transformed to their bipedal modes and stood up to take their bearings.

"Well, that was fun," a voice not unlike the deceased Jazz's said.

"Not for the poor structure."

"If you'd stayed on course..."

"Autobots, welcome to Earth," Optimus intervened.

"Yeah, so quit bickering like younglings and get yer afts over here," Ironhide barked, earning him a Look from the Prime.

The new arrivals all assembled in front of Optimus and Will, and the latter backed up to avoid being stepped on. Six pairs of optics all scanned the area curiously. Baby blue, azure, robin's egg, cobalt blue, aqua, and the exact color blue on a Pepsi can.

From their bulky body shapes, the humans could tell there were no femmes among them. The mech with baby blue optics stood a little in front of the others, and it was this one Optimus turned his attention to first.

"Ultra Magnus, it's wonderful to see you again."

The other mech grinned, saluting. "Always nice to see you, sir."

"So, are there only the six of you?" Ironhide inquired.

"Six?" Ultra Magnus looked confused. "There should be more of us than that..." He looked down the line. "Sound off."

"Hound." This mech had the Pepsi can optics.

"Wheeljack." Robin's egg blue optics squinted in the darkness.

"Bluestreak." Azure this time.

"Red Alert." An aqua gaze shifted nervously around the area, checking his surroundings.

The cobalt blue optics flickered. "Blaster."

"Where're the others?" Red Alert piped up, looking at Bluestreak.

"Was I supposed to watch them?"

"Um...I have a theory," Will said, pointing back to the sky where two more orbs of fire had entered the atmosphere with a collective sonic boom. One trailed the other closely. The late comets landed exactly on target, transforming as soon as they hit, revealing the slim body shape of one female, and the bulk of one mech.

"Probably got lost," Ironhide scoffed.

"Assuming that's Sunstreaker," Chromia added.

"Settle down, you two," Optimus responded.

"I still say they got lost."

"Is that anyway to refer to your superiors, Ironhide?" An authoritive voice, not unlike Optimus', asked the question. The female had locked her sapphire optics on the hulking mech's azure ones.

"Oh, slag."

"Elita?" Optimus asked.

The femme looked at him. "Optimus?"

"Aw, family reunion," Sudeswipe muttered.

Blaster wolf-whistled.

"Shut up," Ratchet said, brandishing a circular saw.

Optimus and the femme named Elita had moved next to one another, and Elita threw her arms around the Autobot commander's neck. The newest mech laughed quietly. "Knew she'd be glad to see him."

Ultra Magnus locked optics with the laughing mech and scowled. "Speaking of 'bots we're overjoyed to see, did you get lost?"

"No," Elita replied over her shoulder.

"Yes. Elita got us lost."

"Did not."

The other mech rolled his optics. "Whatever. Point is, we're here now."

"Good thing."

Will cleared his throat. Optimus looked down at him. "Oh, my apologies, I nearly forgot. Autobots, this is Major Will Lennox, he and the other humans with him, as well as ourselves, and now you, make up the elite NEST strike team."

There were various murmurs of "pleased to meet you."

"You guys too. Like Optimus said, I'm Major Will Lennox, that's Sergeant Epps. We have several vehicles here for you all to scan. Unfortunately, two of you will have the same vehicle mode, we were one short."

"I'll share with someone," Elita volunteered. "There're more of you mechs, it won't be as difficult to keep us femmes straight."

Arcee had an idea. "You can scan my vehicle form, Elita," she offered with as she transformed.

"Thank you, Arcee." The femme scanned the Ducati and transformed into almost an exact duplicate. The only difference was that Elita's paint was orange, as opposed to hot pink.

"OOH! I got dibs on this one!" Blaster smiled. Two seconds later, an orange copy of the MK2 Ferret was idling beside the original.

Ultra Magnus selected the Kenworth semi, Hound became a 1970 CJ-2A military jeep, Wheeljack chose the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, Red Alert scanned the Dodge Durrango, and Bluestreak was enchanted by the Buick Lacrosse. The red, white, and blue truck appeared beside the one he'd scanned, as did the green Jeep, the white pickup, the red SVU, and the white car.

This left the unnamed mech the Datsun Fairlady 280ZX police car. He transformed to vehicle mode and back to robot form within a minute, which revealed a red chest and that his vehicle form's doors became wings of sorts on the mech's back. Ice blue optics widened approvingly as he looked himself over. "Not quite my usual standard, but adequate."

"Prowl, I thought you were capable of making less obvious comments," Bluestreak chided. "And anyway, I hear the femmes like a mech in uniform."

The mech looked at him. "Shut up, youngling."

"I'm not that much younger than you!"

"I remember the day you were sparked, Bluestreak. For the love of Primus, your sire was old before _I_ was sparked."

"I think we should get the new arrivals back to base, Major Lennox," Optimus said, his optics not leaving Bluestreak and Prowl.

"Yeah..."

****

Optimus sat at his desk, updating the rollcall list to save Prowl the processor-ache later. He looked up at the sound of a knock on his door.

"Yes, Blaster?"

The orange mech fidgeted. "...I was wonderin'...is this ev'ryone, or are there others stationed elsewhere?"

The Autobot commander realized the cause of Blaster's discomfort. He hadn't known that his mate had been killed. Maybe he'd been unaware of the pain over their bond, having been wounded himself?

"...Blaster, I have to tell you something. I'm sure this would be easier to hear from someone else, but..."

"Oh, Primus..." Blaster's mouth hung open wide. "He's...he's offline...isn't he?"

Optimus sighed. "Yes. I am truly sorry, Blaster. We couldn't save him."

The Communications officer bowed his head. "I should'a known. Jazz always took off more'n he could shred," he said with a grim chuckle. Optimus couldn't tell if he was reassuring himself, or trying to let his superior know he was okay.

He didn't think the orange mech was doing either.

****

The next morning, Will headed down to the underground Autobot Base. He entered the Rec. Room, and was promptly surprised to encounter an additional seven Autobots. The events of the previous night came flooding back into his memory. "Morning, everyone."

"Mornin'," came Ironhide's gruff reply from the back.

"Good morning," Optimus and Elita said in unison.

"Is everybody here? We're running a training course today."

"Uh...no, we're one shy. Where're Prowl?" Ratchet observed.

"Knowing him, probably in his office already," Optimus replied. Will remembered that several offices aside from Ratchet's in the medbay, Optimus', and Ironhide's had been included in the building conversion plans, and they'd been added. "I need to speak with my Second-In-Command anyway, Will, would you care to join me?"

"Sure."

Once the commander and the major were out in the hallway, they turned right and headed in the direction of Optimus' office. They passed right by it, and turned down another, shorter hallway, which they followed to the end. Optimus knocked on the door. "Prowl?"

"Come in, Optimus."

The door opened, and Optimus and Will entered. The office was already neatly organized, the computer and cabinets Ratchet and Flareup had built arranged against the walls with the desk and chairs in the middle of the room. Prowl himself was standing, his back resting against the wall. "What can I do for you?"

"We thought you might need a brief on the current planet-wide Decepticon status," Optimus explained.

"That'd be appreciated."

"We're sure we've rid Earth of all immediate danger, but you know how Megatron thinks as a leader...anyway, he was not defeated, but the Fallen was. Megatron and Starscream escaped, and both were heavily wounded."

"So, you think they'll be back?" Prowl guessed.

Optimus nodded. "If I know my brother at all, yes. And there's one other thing...we've still not caught Barricade."

Prowl was still, but his fists clenched. "I assure you, sir, I can help with _that_ problem when it next arises."

"I though you'd say that. That was all, really."

"Anything non-professional, Optimus?"

"No. Not unless you have any questions?"

The Datsun bit his lower lip component. "No sir. Nothing."

"All right. As you were..." Not altogether believing him, Optimus turned to leave with Will on his heels.

"What's Prowl got against Barricade?" the Major asked.

"One of the few things Prowl and I actually have in common is that we both have known Decepticon brothers," Optimus explained.

****

"All right. Your objective is the dummy inside this vehicle." Will held up an image of an old, beat-up Nissan. "You're gonna work your way through the maze while the others teams shoot at you. Your ammo is paint capsules. Everyone was outfitted with them this morning. Each team will then return to the start of the course with their 'human'. Any questions?"

Everyone shook their heads. "Nope, we're good," Blaster said.

"Great. All right, Team One; Ratchet, Blaster, Jolt, Flareup, Wheeljack, Epps, Manfreidi, Johnson. Team Two; Red Alert, Bluestreak, Sideswipe, Arcee, Hound, Parker, Grahmn, Meloni. Team Three; Optimus, Elita, Magnus, Ironhide, Chromia, Mitchells, Davis, McGrath." He turned to Prowl, who'd been leaning against the side of one of the C-17 hangars unobtrusively. "We were short, so it's just you and me. Okay?"

The black and white nodded. "That's fine."

Everyone lined up at the start, and at the sound of Will's signal, they all sprinted into the course.

Will ducked behind a wall as Epps shot at him, but Prowl dodged and moved on. "Hey! Wait up!"

"You stuck yourself with the difficult one," Ratchet sniggered as he fired on Ironhide, who ducked and retaliated. Will sighed and rushed to catch up. By the time he did, Prowl was retrieving the "human".

"Y'know, the point was that the team stay together," Will panted.

Prowl arched a brow, placing the "human" over his shoulder. "How often does that actually happen in battle?"

"Not very."

"You can't argue with logic."


End file.
